China has lashed out at the US government on Friday after the US banned import of solar panel materials from a Chinese company and placed trade restrictions on four others for alleged use of forced labour in Xinjiang.
On Thursday the White House said that the use of forced labour was part of Chinese efforts to repress millions of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.
Washington said that Hoshine Silicon Industry would not be able to sell its products in the United States due to “reasonable indications” of forced labour in its manufacturing process.
The Commerce Department also announced that Hoshine and four other Xinjiang firms would be subject to tight restrictions on their ability to acquire US commodities, software and technology.
The White House said the United States believes that state-sponsored forced labour in Xinjiang is both an affront to human dignity and an example of the PRC’s unfair economic practices.
China lashed out at the order, calling it a “bandit-like act no different from pillaging other people’s property” that creates “forced poverty and forced unemployment” among Xinjiang’s people.
At a routine briefing Friday, Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said The US uses human rights as a pretence and to unscrupulously oppress the industrial development of Xinjiang
An official from US Customs and Border Protection, which issued the block on Hoshine imports, estimated that the United States imported goods from the company worth $150 million over the past 30 months.
Asked if the US trade actions could conflict with promoting solar energy, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said stopping forced labour comes first.
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